Despite the big drop in people appealing verdicts, the number of trials being heard in the Circuit Court has increased by 21% in the last two years.

Serious offences such as assault causing harm, abduction, possession and supply of drugs and death by dangerous driving are dealt with in the Circuit Court, which sits throughout the country.

Some 79% of defendants appearing before the Circuit Court pleaded guilty last year, down from 85% in 2005.

Some 46% of all defendants were dealt with in Dublin and 85% pleaded guilty, while just over 5% were convicted by a jury. Almost 6% were acquitted after a jury trial.

Outside Dublin, 74% of defendants pleaded guilty while 6% were found guilty by a jury.

Some 2,566 trials were dealt with at Circuit Court level in 2006, up from 2,118 two years previously. The increased number of cases heard was as a result of judges being freed up because of the drop in appeals.

In 2003 11,634 cases heard at District Court level were appealed but that figure dropped by 44% to 6,545 last year.

Of the 2,556 sentences handed down by the Circuit Court last year, five resulted in jail terms of over 10 years.

Two of those cases were heard in Dublin with the other three in the provinces.